All posts tagged Mobile Asia Expo

Over the past few years, NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile carrier, has lost subscribers to smaller rivals offering Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Even though DoCoMo commands nearly half of Japan’s mobile market, the company has been scrambling to find ways to make its customers stay. Instead of giving all the handsets it offers equal amount of publicity, DoCoMo is now selectively promoting two Android models in its smartphone lineup – Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S4 and Sony Corp.’s Xperia A – hoping that those models can compete against the iPhone 5 being offered by Softbank Corp. and KDDI Corp.

Still, many people in Japan, from the media to investors, continue to ask one question: Will DoCoMo carry the iPhone? This week, The Wall Street Journal asked that question to DoCoMo Senior Executive Vice President Kazuto Tsubouchi, who was attending the Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai.

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Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com